Man Faces Up to 13 Years In Prison For Ditching Dates And Leaving Them With Dinner Bill

By: Mackenzie Wright | September 14, 2018

A man in Southern California is facing ten felony counts for dining and dashing, and could spend up to 13 years in prison for his behavior. The man was chatting women up on social media sites and making dates with them at expensive restaurants.

Mid-way through the meal, he would excuse himself to take a phone call and skip out, leaving the ladies to pay the bill. He became known as the 'dine and dash' dater.

Paul Guadalupe Gonzales, a 45-year-old who enjoyed meeting women on online dating websites like Bumble and Plenty of Fish, has finally been arrested after scamming women out of expensive meals for two years. He was caught trying to skip out on a $130 bill after having a dinner of steak and shrimp at an upscale LA eatery.

The good-looking man went on at least 10 dates over the last two years in which he left women alone to pay the costly dining bill. He would encourage them to order whatever they wanted and would order expensive meals for himself, then he would pretend he was getting a call from his son or excuse himself to go to the bathroom.

One woman says Gonzalez told her ahead of time that he was expecting a call from his son, and when he left the table he told her not to let them take his food away because he wasn't finished. After 20 minutes, she realized he wasn't coming back.

The woman, known only as Barbara, says the experience was humiliating. She didn’t want any further embarrassment, so she ended up paying the bill herself, which was close to $200.

"So the jerk that left me with the bill on my date got arrested today!!!! Someone recognized him from my Fb post and called the cops. He had a warrant for his snip and ditch in Burbank!!!! Love it!!! Kharmas a bitch!! Share so that when he gets out no other unsuspecting female deals with this jerk!!" Marjorie Moon, a woman who was victimized by Gonzalez, wrote on Facebook.

The women are now all happy to be star witnesses in the case against Gonzalez. The prosecutor says he deserves the maximum sentence because he didn't just defraud the restaurant; he 'set up a third party to take the fall'.

It wasn't actually that hard to find Gonzalez. He didn't even bother trying to cover his tracks. He continued to browse the same dating websites, using his photo, and didn't try to hide who he was in any way.

Gonzalez has outstanding bench warrants for other offenses as well, including petty theft. He also once ran out of a hair salon, still wearing his smock, after getting a trim. After being arrested for dining and dashing, some petty theft charges were dropped, and new felony charges were brought against the defendant, including one count of grand theft auto.

At the first hearing, just before proceedings were about to begin, Gonzalez requested a private conference with the judge about his attorney, Deputy Public Defender Salvador Salgado. He apparently asked the judge to excuse his attorney and to allow him to act as his own representative. After a private hearing, the judge ruled that Salgado would remain on the case.